Six Weeks, Three Seasons

I’d like to say we have been enjoying a warm and sunny spring in Crete, but that is not completely true!

We arrived in heavy rain Thursday 24th Feb and with a few notable exceptions the days have been cloudy with considerable rain and even snow meaning we have spent a lot of time indoors with a cosy log fire.

The feral cats don’t like this weather and we are on the visiting list of up to 10 cats; I try to feed just my favourite 3 but the others appear as if by magic the minute the door opens.

One Thursday Kritsa was like a Cretan version of Brigadoon. (Sorry, difficult to explain if you don’t know the story) The clouds cleared and 6 coaches full of passengers from a cruise ship were deposited in the village. Many of the shops that had previously been firmly shut for winter, opened to enjoy two hours of brisk trade. Then, the visitors boarded their coaches, the clouds came back and there was no sign that they had ever been there.

Sunday 6th March was carnival day in the village heralding the start of the Lent fasting period; not a carnival with “floats” but a masquerade. Trestle tables and chairs in the square were full of people enjoying a cheerful BBQ lunch wearing only light jackets. One joker said enjoy the afternoon because there will be rain Monday and snow Tuesday, how we all laughed!

Arriving back in the village on the Tuesday (Pancake Day in the UK, and no Alan did not miss out!) after collecting a hire car from Agios Nikolaos it seemed as if the rain was turning to sleet. By the evening snow had dusted the village but by morning we were snowed in – no council gritters to tend the roads over here.

Later that week we drove up to the Lassithi Plateau thanks to a farmer who used his tractor as a snow plough – we were probably the only tourists up there but what a fantastic site – I have put a couple of photos on the Gallery. A few days later we tried to get up to our local plateau at Kathero but as no one lives up there during the winter the road was impassable.

There have been bright sunny days for fabulous walks, some with friends but most on our own so even if we are not getting suntans we are staying quite fit – just as well as my other hobby whilst I am here in the cold weather is cooking cakes, pies and buns.

Old Viking is in Kritsa too and we have enjoyed meeting up with them for a natter; we were pleased to receive one of the first lemons from their young tree, fabulous in my G&T!

On rare days we have enjoyed breakfast on the balcony but apart from that al fresco dining has been limited to picnic lunches during walking expeditions.

The next “event” is Friday 25th March, when the children will parade through the town to commemorate the day in 1821 when Greeks declared they would fight for independence from the Turks launching the famous rebel cry “Freedom or Death”. It is a Bank Holiday so the village should remain lively all day.

So we might not be doing anything very exciting but we are enjoying being "at home" and sometimes experiencing 3 seasons in one day – guess we will have to come back for some summer!

Hi, Yvonne - have been wondering how you were getting along. It does seem to have been a long and wet winter here in the northwest, but it's now finally become warm and sunny and we've been able to get out in the garden and work, but it's a big area! Hope you're enjoyng the same sunshine and have been able to get out for some walks to enjoy the spring flowers - the upside to the wet weather is that the countryside is really green and with the warmth all the spring flowers are coming out.